National Art Education Association 901 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 | www.arteducators.org Rebecca Stone-Danahy, EDITOR Sheng Kuan Chung University of Houston Dan Li University of Houston Since the introduction of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), art classes in public schools have struggled to survive. Many resources that once helped support the arts have either been reduced or reallocated to emphasize reading and mathematics, and, as a result, art programs across the nation have been subjected to budget cuts to meet speciic federal accountability measures (Garcia, Jones, & Isaacson, 2015). Teaching art on a limited budget is a concern shared by many art teachers, especially those working in the climate of test-dominated American public schooling. However, despite the shadow of NCLB and the current STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculum, art education continues to maintain its accountability in public schools. In this article, we explore several innovative ways that art educators have developed resources and greater accountability for their program. Limited Funding for Art Classes Art teachers in public schools have actively voiced their concerns over budget cuts to their art programs. Brooke (2014) reports that schools in southeast Texas have insuicient funds for school arts programs due to high- stakes testing. These schools do not ofer art classes because subjects associated with the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness are emphasized over the arts. Moreover, following the recent economic recession, it is estimated that more than 80% of schools nationwide have experienced budget cuts since 2008, forcing public schools in such major cities as Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, to eliminate art programs across the board (Metla, 2014). Cases of Creative Art Teaching on a Limited Budget Tin Yan Wong, a teaching artist. Many artists are willing to teach and share their irst-hand experiences with students, and hosting a teaching artist can help the art educator ind creative ways to deal with budget cuts in schools. Teaching artists may be working professionals, art amateurs, parents, or community members. As a teaching artist, one of Tin Yan Wong’s art lessons encourages 6th-grade children to create a unique trophy from discarded wood to honor and express gratitude to their parents (Figures 1-2). Wong introduces the symbolism of a trophy to students and discusses how symbols communicate meaning. At the culmination of the lesson, students present their trophies to the parents in a school ceremony. In Figure 2, a student has applied two familiar images, a hamster and sunlower seeds, to express a joyful time with her mother at home. The student uses light blue and gray colors to paint her hamster. The hamster looks relaxed and is perched comfortably in the soft grass on a bright sunny day. The student represents herself as a CREATIVITY ON A BUDGET Spring 2018 Teaching Art within Funding Limitations ADVISORY